Frame and Focus
by aestheticisms
Summary: I'll be the scene, you'll be the director. - RedLeaf.


**frame and focus**

**(I'll be the scene, you'll be the director.)**

* * *

"You know, your hair is getting longer." She drawled, while twirling a strand of ash brown in between her index finger and thumb. He scoffed from his curled up postion on his ratty, old recliner, knees against his chest, chin on top of his folded arms. Leaf pursed her lips, and shook her head, unwilling to fight the good fight today. He was moodier than usual, all scowls and grimaces.

The brunette girl walked away from her location behind his chair, and jumped over the armrest, pushing the boy to the side. He glared, as he made room, and she gave him a small smile, teeth hidden behind a glossed mouth. Laying her head on his shoulder, he turned towards her, and pressed a kiss on her forehead.

Leaf felt the heat rising to her cheeks, and shook it away, as she straightened her spine up, and tucked her legs under herself. She motioned a hand towards his face, and turned it towards her, and smiled.

"It's nice to see you displaying some sort of human emotion. I thought you'd abandoned it in the snow somewhere." With a giggle, she flicked his nose, only for Red to roll his eyes, and slump his shoulders. He pressed his feet against the floor, leaving only his arms folded against his chest. "You seem pensive."

Quickly changing position, she lay on her back, and rested her head on his lap. He took the opportunity to play with her dark locks, braiding them with calloused fingers, and unbraiding them with swift movements.

"…"

"Don't sass me, Red."

His armor cracked. His lips turned up at the corners, dark eyes lidded for a millisecond in silent laughter.

"…Leaf?"

The girl's eyes widened, green eyes flickered with amusement, and surprise. She didn't move, still as a stone, her breaths matched his. If she did something, anything, the moment would be broken.

Time seemed to come to a halt. He let out a long sigh, and continued playing with her hair. The girl resisted the urge to pout, and let the silence around them settle comfortably, a warm blanket against their skin.

"Yes?" She couldn't help but notice how small she sounded, small, and shy, and scared. She didn't want him to stay quiet anymore, she missed his voice.

"Can I ask of you a favor?"

In that sentence alone, he said more than he said all year. Her heart constricted, and panged. She couldn't let him stop now, no.

"Of course." Leaf smiled, crooked teeth, and all. He had stopped playing with her hair by then. Instead, his hands were fiddling with the brim of his two-toned cap, flicking it off, shoving it back on. The girl raised her hands, and captured his hat, wrapping her fingers against the flimsy fabric, and threw it on the loveseat a few feet away.

"But first, stop messing with the hat, you're gonna ruin it." She allowed him the pleasure of a grin, and he raised his eyebrows in amusement.

"Fine. I need you to dye my hair."

"What."

This was not what she was expecting. At all. Maybe something else, maybe "please romance me to the other side of the room", or "please hit me in the face every time I stop talking for more than an hour". Hell, even "please remind me to call my probably deranged mother because I haven't talked to her in four years" would have sufficed.

He tilted his head, almost shocked by her deadpan reaction. "You look pale."

She resisted the urge to scream, and suppressed it with another saccharine smile. She tasted iron in her teeth, had she bitten her tongue? Leaf moved the muscle against the backs of her teeth, and realized, that yes, she had bitten her tongue in frustration, and an attempt not to shout.

"I'm fine." She muttered, looking down for a second, before returning her gaze towards his face. "What color?"

He visibly changed. His demeanor, his face, he seemed to be cheerful. She sighed, and rolled off her comfortable pose, and landed on the floor with a graceful THUMP. Picking herself up off the wooden planks, she walked towards the coat rack, and in one motion, took it off the hanger and slipped it on.

"Black."

Leaf gave him a look of suspicion, and shook her head, heading out into the Mount Silver snow.

.

.

.

.

"Once you go black, you can't go back."

Red examined his hair in the cracked mirror that lived in their bathroom, the ebony strands were a novelty, they were strange, and unfamiliar. The color made his eyes look brighter, they burned instead of smoldered.

"I know." He smiled. "Thank you."

The girl tilted her head to the side, and wiped her dye stained hands on her red skirt. She planted a kiss on his cheek, and turned away, leaving the boy alone.

"I miss your old hair already," she started, before skulking past the door way. "But I'm glad it's made you talk more."

With that, she was gone.

* * *

**Note: Obviously the reasoning behind Red's black hair for Pokemon BW2. Canon until proven otherwise.**

**- RV**


End file.
